- Vodafone is place a mobile network sensors along the River Severn to monitor rainfall and water levels in real-time.
- This project will use artificial intelligence to prevent floods in advance based on real-time weather forecasts and water level data.
What happened: Vodafone collaborates with the River Severn Partnership Advanced Wireless Innovation to deploy intelligent sensors and enhance flood resistance capabilities.
Vodafone has collaborated with the UK Environment Agency to deploy IoT sensors along the sides of the River Severn. The radio frequency of these sensors is significantly affected by precipitation. Those frequencies are connected via Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and can accurately collect rainfall amounts and water levels immediately. Then, based on the provided real-time data, after being analyzed and processed by artificial intelligence, flood warnings can be generated more quickly, helping all departments actively handle potential flood risks.
This network mainly covers the key locations of the Severn River, especially the high-risk areas affected by floods. It helps relevant departments to predict the weather more accurately and alleviate the threat of floods. Besides, the data detected by this project can also help form certain recovery plans for future risks and more efficiently deal with the losses caused by natural disasters. Most importantly, it strengthens the guarantee of people’s life safety.
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Why it’s important
The IoT-driven flood prediction system jointly developed by Vodafone and the UK Environment Agency marks an important milestone in humanity’s utilisation of technology to combat natural factors. Due to the fact that traditional prediction methods cannot guarantee accuracy and cannot be changed in real-time according to the rapidly changing weather conditions, floods in the River Severn in the UK cause damage to most communities and corporates every year. As a result, the region needs to invest approximately $295 million to address the losses caused by floods. Now, the IoT project can effectively solve this problem. It provides accurate data for departments and jointly takes action to resist natural disasters.
Furthermore, the main network supporting this project is Vodafone’s Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network. NB-IoT is a low-power network that supports wide connections to area. This network not only helps the UK play an important role in environmental protection but also provides smart city and wildlife tracking services. If this network succeeds in the subsequent River Severn experiment, it will not only bring environmental benefits but also economic advantages. The communities can eliminate losses caused by floods and protect existing assets.
